When lunch was finished we headed to the aft section of the ship and disembarked to enter the mangrove world either by kayak or Zodiac. Once across the shallow waters at the entrance of the mangrove forest we were greeted by four sentinels in the form of brown pelicans in full breeding plumage! Mangroves are well known as nursery habitats for many species starting at the bottom of the food chain with phytoplankton, zooplankton, and filter feeders such as oysters and bi-valves, which are then fed upon by small fish, birds and small mammals which all reside within the mangrove forests.
This forest provides an ideal nursery environment due to one very important and unusual aspect that involves the leaf litter produced by this dense saltwater forest. The leaves of the mangroves are continually dropped into the water where bacteria and fungi begin breaking down this detritus. These small organisms take the difficult to digest cellulose material from the leaves of mangroves and convert them into useable proteins, which then attract all the many organisms that thrive in this unique ecosystem.
We traveled for approximately one and half hours, watching birds flocking and feeding, observing small animal tracks in the nearby sand dunes, and gazing over the edges of the Zodiacs into waters rich in sediments and nutrients learning the importance of the interconnectedness of the mangrove world.
